A purse meth lab was found in a woman’s purse in a St Louis Walmart today, according to CBS News. The Walmart store had to be evacuated to to the explosive nature of the substance. She was allegedly caught shoplifting while cooking meth in her purse. Talk about muli-tasking. Store security and police say they discovered the “one pot” batch of methamphetamine in a soda bottle in the woman’s possession. No one was injured, and the woman and her male companion were arrested. “There are lots of one-pot cooks,” stated St. Louis County police Lt. Mark Cox. “But taking it into Walmart is very unusual.”

But its not so unusual really, the trend of cooking small quantities of the drug for personal use is on the rise.

A portable meth lab exploded in a man’s pants a few months ago while fighting off a state trooper at a traffic stop, KOTV Tulsa reported.

So how actually does a meth lab explode in a man’s pants? A portable meth lab is also known as a one-pot lab or a shake-and-bake lab, where a smaller batch of the drug is manufactured. Shake up the mix and you have the meth. But it’s a very volatile mix.

In another recent incident, David Williams was running from authorities after a traffic stop when one of the officers noticed a chemical smell. When the officer caught up with the 54-year old, an “active meth lab” he had been hiding in his pants burst, Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Shiloh Hall told the station. Williams was not seriously injured when the ‘shake-and-bake’ device exploded.

He was arrested on a complaint of manufacturing a controlled and dangerous substance.

I have done a few blogs on meth labs being found in Walmarts lately, but the pant lab brings it to a whole new level.

Another Walmart meth lab was found in April this year when police in Boaz, Alabama discovered a meth lab in a ladies’ bathroom. Police Chief Terry Davis said maintenance workers cleaning the bathroom discovered a one-pot meth lab. The device or pot consisted of a Nestle water bottle. Found with the bottle were five packets of pseudoephedrine, a main component of methamphetamine. Investigators are working with store security teams to analyze security footage to pinpoint a suspect, he said.

So-called shake-and-bake meth labs require few ingredients to make a few grams of meth. The shopping list: drain cleaner, lithium batteries and decongestants found in common cold medicines such as Sudafed. All of these items may be found easily at stores, including Walmart, Davis said.

I wrote about a similar incident back in December when police arrested a 45-year-old woman building ameth lab on a shelf in aWalmart store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Store cameras verified that she had gathered the required chemicals for methamphetamine in the Walmart for over six hours and was starting to mix it up.

I can tell you that meth lab chemicals are extremely volatile when mixed. During the arrest, one police officer suffered minor injuries when the chemicals burned his hands. Just mixing the ingredients can ignite and cause an explosion. Just to give you an example of the volatility, she was mixing up sulfuric acid with starter fluid when caught.

Unfortunately many meth labs are found due to a result of fire or explosion. During a busy Christmas shopping season, this woman mixing up a such a concoction could have been disastrous. Mixing these different chemicals also forms toxic compounds and byproducts, resulting in toxic fumes and vapors. It’s like making a small bomb in the store.

A good practice would be for stores to have these volatile chemicals behind the counter and not readily available on store shelves, especially since they caught a guy in that very same store a few months ago with a small meth lab in his backpack.

I am a firefighter and cancer survivor circumnavigating the globe by bicycle for breast, prostate, and lung cancer charity. The posted blogs are my personal opinion and thoughts.If you have a story you would like to share rudypospisil75@hotmail.com or if want to read my blogs sign up on twitter @copsfire, Facebook Rudy Pospisil, or RSS feed here

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